Direct Connection
by Lynn Jones
Summary: Arlua and Izaya get reacquainted with each other after Attenuation. Not quite smut, but rated to be safe.


**This is really long and doesn't quite get to the full-blown smut I intended, but here you go. This is just after the epilogue of Attentuation.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OCs.**

"Ne, Lu-chan, why don't you stay the night?" Izaya suggested. Arlua blinked. It had only been a few hours since Tania and Shizuo's wedding, and she had left the reception with the information broker.

"I don't know…" she trailed off. She wasn't sure what to say. She wanted to be near him –six months was way too long to be apart, and the few hours they had been together since they first danced wasn't nearly enough to make up for it. But…despite confessing their mutual love, they hadn't discussed their relationship as much as the technician would like.

"Lu-chan." Izaya's voice caught her attention, ensnared it, monopolized it. "We need to discuss things, right?"

"For once, you read me correctly," she laughed. He gave her a small smirk –a pleased, playful expression rather than a cruel one.

"I can't possibly be wrong about what you're thinking _all_ the time, Lu-chan," he pointed out. She laughed, just enjoying being near him after six months apart. She looked down at their hands, fingers entwined, and smiled.

"I think I will stay the night," she decided. "We do need to talk, after all." She glanced up and saw a heated glint in his eyes that made her think they would be doing more than talking.

"For one thing, Lu-chan," he murmured. "I would like you to know where all of my bolt holes are. If anyone finds out about my feelings for you, you might need to use them." She nodded as he led her to the nearest of his many apartments. When he closed the door behind them, she was already studying her new surroundings. The apartment was rather generic. It didn't look particularly lived in, except for the laptop on the coffee table, which she guessed belonged to the informant behind her.

"Are all of them like this?" she asked. _So clean, and stiff and impersonal?_

"Most of them. These are hiding places, not homes," he murmured. She nodded her understanding and surveyed the apartment again. As a safe, controlled environment to run to, it was ideal, with open space and what looked like professionally coordinated furniture. He'd probably paid someone to design it. She smiled and moved toward the couch, only for him to catch her hand and pull her against him. The technician blinked, surprised, then relaxed into his hold.

"We really should talk about some things," she said. Izaya nodded.

"This way," he replied, taking her hand and pulling her toward a door just off the main room. Behind that door was a bedroom with a black and red color scheme. Despite the tidiness of the rest of the apartment, though, this room wasn't as tidy. His usual fur-trimmed jacket –left behind for the day so as to blend in with the wedding guests- hung from the top of the open closet door, and the bed was unmade. He had obviously slept here last night. "All of the bedrooms in my apartments are the same," he told her. She hid a smile at that.

_So even in the bolt holes he insists are hiding places and nothing more, he keeps a little piece of home consistent through all of them,_ she thought. It was a surprisingly endearing realization. She went and sat on the edge of the bed, and Izaya sat beside her.

"Just so you know, Lu-chan, I meant what I said earlier. I don't kiss humans. They're beneath me. And beneath you, though I'm not sure if you really believe me about you being above normal humans," he said.

"Of course I believe you," she replied.

_It's how you justify loving me. How could I not believe you about your opinion of me?_ Arlua thought.

"The point is, I love you, and you can count on me not kissing anyone else. You're the only one I want to be with," he told her, his brown eyes holding her blue-green gaze. She saw a degree of warmth in his eyes that she had wondered if she would ever see again. She hadn't been sure whether he would forgive her for what she had said six months ago, and she hadn't expected _him_ to apologize to _her._

"I love you, too," she replied. His smile was real as he seemed to soak in the words.

"I wondered, you know. After you said that for the first time, after you told me you didn't want to be my technician and then walked away. I wondered if you really meant that, or if you were manipulating me."

"Well, I kind of was manipulating you. I was trying to get you to realize that I wanted to be your equal, not your employee," she pointed out, and was rewarded with a quick laugh.

"I suppose that's fair. I didn't think about that. I just wanted you close to me, and that's the first thing that came to mind to keep you with me," he admitted. Arlua shook her head.

"For such an observant man, you can be rather obtuse about some things," she observed.

"So mean, Lu-chan," he protested. "I'm not obtuse. I'm just not used to being in this situation!"

"And I'm teasing you," she replied with a grin. Then she tilted her head. "So…what are we now? I mean, I know you love me and I know I love you, but…"

"We have to be careful. Homeron isn't the only person who hates me, and even if she's locked up in a psych ward, there are others who might find out about you and try to use you to hurt me." The thought made him grimace, and Arlua marveled at how easy his expressions were for her to read, even after six months apart, because his grimace faint, a barely-present, unpleasant twist to his lips and a slight tightening around his eyes. Deciding she didn't like that look on his face, she flopped backwards, stretching out on the bed.

"Mmm~ Well, Izzy, I can always take some self-defense classes," she pointed out. "I have plenty of enemies of my own, though, and I've handled them well enough." He observed her antics with raised eyebrows, then frowned at her words.

"You say that like I don't know Shizu-chan and Dota-chin and the others have had to save you you're your enemies three times in the last six months," he grumbled.

"Stalker," she muttered.

"I prefer the term 'people-watcher' or 'god'," he replied.

"Oh really? I thought you preferred to be called 'Izzy'," she countered, watching his expression closely. He had relaxed, and she allowed herself a grin as he leaned over her.

"Well, yes, your unique nickname for me is my favorite thing to be called," he agreed, resting his forehead on hers. They stayed like that for a moment. Then Arlua tentatively tilted her head just enough to bring their lips together. It started as a chaste kiss –she was momentarily surprised by the gentleness of it considering the man she was kissing- and then deepened. Her thoughts fled as her attention was monopolized by the soft movement of his mouth on hers, growing steadily more demanding, until he pulled back just enough to trace her lower lip with his tongue, asking for permission.

Stunned and rather pleased by the fact that his actions still felt like a request, she parted her lips slightly, allowing him in. His lips twitched upward in a smirk when she gasped as his tongue entered her mouth. As he explored the wet heat, she let out a soft moan, breathless from the way his tongue danced with hers.

When he pulled away again, she had to bite back a sound of protest. Instead of giving him the satisfaction –he was smirking again, the irritating germ!—she tangled her fingers in his black hair and pulled him back down to her, cutting off his amused chuckle with her mouth.

"Lu-chan," he murmured playfully against her lips, "You do realize you're on my bed, on your back, with me on top of you, right?~" The technician blinked up at him, still slightly out of breath. It took a minute for his words to sink in. Then her eyes widened and she blushed furiously. Her fingers were still tangled in his hair, and his hands were on either side of her shoulders, supporting his upper body so he didn't fall on her. His knees, she realized as her blush darkened, flanked her thighs.

"Um…" Before she could form a coherent thought –or even decide if it was a good thing that he was on top of her like this so soon after the end of their separation—Izaya lowered his head and pressed his lips to her neck. She gasped and shivered involuntarily as he trailed kisses over the sensitive skin of her throat.

"Lu-chan,~" he purred. Another shiver went through her at his tone. She'd never heard him sound like that before, lower than usual and with that purring quality, it gave her a wonderful melting feeling.

_I never thought it was possible to actually _melt_ at the sound of someone's voice…_ she thought faintly.

"There's an aspect of our relationship that we should really discuss," he murmured against her skin.

"Let me guess," she moaned as he nipped at the place where her neck met her shoulder, just above her collarbone. "It's the no-pets policy on my apartment's lease. It means I can't keep you there, right?" She half expected him to give her a sour look, but instead, he nibbled at the same spot more sharply, drawing a louder moan from her, this time without intelligible words.

"So I'm your pet, am I?" he purred. "That's rather insulting, don't you think?" His tongue lapped at the soot he had been nipping, making her gasp. "I can think of much better things for you to do with your mouth than insult me.~"

"Izzy,~" she managed, blushing. "If that's the 'aspect' you want to discuss, then you must be really inexperienced, since 'discussing' isn't usually part of it."

"On the contrary," he replied, lifting his head so he could meet her eyes. "I want to be sure you want this. The last time I thought I knew what you would want didn't go so well."

"Then quit thinking," she countered, pulling him down for another kiss and opening her mouth to his tongue. When they were both panting for breath, she managed to continue, "I want this. I want you, Izzy. We can sort out the details in the morning, okay?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," he answered. Then his lips twitched as a thought occurred to him. "You know, what you said a while ago about attenuation being countered by moving things closer together…" She caught his meaning and flushed.

"Yeah, that would be solved completely by a direct connection," she agreed.


End file.
